You do make a point but at the same time, we already allow this with Alcohol, I remember as a kid how tempting it can look. It's on the same par, I
bet more kids are hospitalised through drinking alcohol than weed again; in every scenario even?

It should be treated like any other med with small kids around. Keep it separate from other goodies, where kids can't reach it. Or lock it up. People
wouldn't leave a prescription of pain killers where their little ones could get at it, they need to do the same with their stash. Older kids, just
let'em know what it is and they are expected to leave it alone.
{ yeah right ]

Not saying anyone can't grow the flower. It will grow in a crack in the sidewalk.

Just saying medicinal quality is different from something a hobbiest might grow.

Not even close. Medicinal cannot hold a candle up to the cronasaur quality. That is a myth. You are right about outdoor not competing against indoor
but as far as quality it is not a science, it is an art. Government and corporations are terrible at art.

The United States federal government may not be ready to sanction marijuana use, but a new agriculture bill is set to legalize preliminary stages
of hemp production in states that allow the practice.

A new farm bill, passed by Congress on Tuesday, would allow universities and state agriculture departments to establish industrial hemp growing
programs. If these research programs go well, they could pave the way for commercial hemp farming to become a reality.

This has nothing to do with the feeling one receives. Its about medicine, ending starvation, manufacturing, textiles and the fact that anywhere hemp
would be made legal, it would be hard to control the growing and usage of it's cousin.

James L. Capra, the chief of operations at the DEA, was responding to a question from a senator Wednesday when he admitted authorities are nervous
about the prospect of legalization measures, which are becoming more popular throughout the US after decriminalization initiatives passed in Colorado
and Washington.

“I have to say this…going down the path to legalization in this country is reckless and irresponsible,” he said. “I’m talking about the long
term impact of legalization in the United States. It scares us.”

Lawmakers and cannabis advocates alike expect legalization measures to help boost struggling government budgets by attracting tourism dollars and
tax revenue. Yet dozens of current and former law enforcement officials from around the nation have spoken out against the changes as the conversation
has gone on. One reason, critics say, is because marijuana arrests and seizures indirectly provide resources for the DEA.

I thought I was the one providing resources to the DEA. Guess they can't make a buck selling it back onto our streets anymore.

Last year, for instance, marijuana lobbyists attacked Bensinger, DuPont & Associates – a company founded by anti-pot crusaders under US
President Nixon that now specializes in corporate drug testing – penned an open letter to a Senate committee criticizing the Obama
administration’s stance on marijuana.

Freaking DuPont...give up already!

The steam train is gaining speed! Wait.....that's not steam! LEGALIZE!!!

How would social interactions change? What would a nation with the munchies look and would that be healthy?

Would new markets open up for healthy quick food organically grown?

Would people start working to live instead of living to work more maybe?

I would very much enjoy the day when I can answer these questions from the point of view of experience. Apparently I have been told that good things
come to those who wait, I have found it far faster to create the good things.

I think those of us who want a better life should be appreciative of these initiatives of those before us that have put into motion the things that
have brought us here.

I shall honor them with a rolled cigarette a glass of rum and a nod to the heavens.

About time man. It's good to see the American spirit in action again. If you guys start this ball rolling then the rest of the world will soon follow
and we can be done with this ridiculous debate and let plants be plants and people be people.

Crime is down: Obviously. If we take away speed limits, speeding tickets will be down. However, still just as many parking tickets, expired plates
tickets, etc.

Dollars are rolling in: Enjoy it while it lasts. How long do you really think all these small business will last with this kind of revenue out there?
Pretty soon corporations will run this. Then there goes all your tax dollars. Don't believe it? Have you been awake the last few decades?

Disclaimer: I do not care one way or the other. However, these proclamations sound just a little too over pie-in-the-sky to hold much water.

I've been telling people for years now that weed is going to be legal and nicotine is going to be illegal. From the looks of it the former isn't
that far off from being true countrywide. And I really can't add anything that hasn't already been said, other than I concur. I don't even smoke
anymore and I still want it legal, because what anybody does with their body is their business, not the governments, because any step towards ending
the war on drugs will cripple organized crime and gangs, because those that become addicts should not fear prison but would be able to get no
questions asked treatment, because it will fix our deficit and then some, but most of all because my ideal society is one of freedom and
responsibility on the part of the individual, not on society at large. So yeah, f*&^ing legalize it already!

Surely the cotton lobbiests can't be that powerful anymore.
Why is it illegal still is a mystery.

Nixon.
See, if you do that, then you must admit that sometimes the government makes a bad call...and more to that, spreads disinfo...and outside of the
people whom are currently serving sentences for the plant, pretty much nobody else will even care really once they do admit it...sort of like how that
one kid tells a lie of how he didn't eat a cookie, with crumbs and chocolate all over his face...then is soo paranoid to simply admit that he
did...thinking people are gonna be shocked....when everyone is really just rolling their eyes at his continued rejection towards telling the truth.

I wouldn't think so. smoking during a lunch break would no doubt be grounds for termination. bit like going out and getting drunk during lunch.
well, termination in the norm jobs, and a bad rep in self owned businesses and such (don't want my dentist stoned while looking at my teeth and
considering the implications of tongues in the universe and other such random stoner thinking).

But overall, yeah, a new market, new advertising, new memes and types of users..from the old school hippys smoking the joints, to a bit more trendy
types eating laced chocolates and the like, etc...same with drinking...rot gut drinkers verses cocktail partys.

originally posted by: ABNARTY
Crime is down: Obviously. If we take away speed limits, speeding tickets will be down. However, still just as many parking tickets, expired plates
tickets, etc.

Dollars are rolling in: Enjoy it while it lasts. How long do you really think all these small business will last with this kind of revenue out there?
Pretty soon corporations will run this. Then there goes all your tax dollars. Don't believe it? Have you been awake the last few decades?

Disclaimer: I do not care one way or the other. However, these proclamations sound just a little too over pie-in-the-sky to hold much water.

It holds much water. If tomatoes are legal, I can grow them, no? We spend way too much on a broken system to place peaceful people in jail. Big
business can not regulate what people grow privately. How's that for an incentive to learn how to garden? If your everyday peas and carrots helped you
relax after work, everybody would learn how to garden.

$69,527,760 in retail marijuana pot sales.

-10,000 people working in the marijuana industry(1,000-2,000 gaining employment in last few months)

- 5.2% decrease in violent crime in the city of Denver.

- No Colorado stores found selling to minors.

- $10.8 million in tax revenue (not including licensing fees)

Pot revenue up, taxes down...See how simple that is. We currently spend to much on black hole economics and not enough on beautiful mother nature. She
is always willing to give back if we take care of her. If my taxes went down, I would have more money to spend on my girlfriend Mary. It's a win-win
situation.

I agree with your second point, moreover I think big tobacco probably has prepared if not is lobbying for this, but as for your first point... that is
a half-truth, if that.

When it comes to illegal narcotic sales, there are a LOT of associated crimes, more than just possession or intent to distribute. Murder comes to
mind. Narcotics are organized crimes number one cash cow, getting rid of that will effectively get rid of them. Read up on the prohibition of alcohol
and crime before, during, and after and you will see what I mean.

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